String Theory
by bigbill16
Summary: Joey and Tristan are on their way to a Duel Monsters tournament when they find themselves caught up in a battle between Ganondorf and the likes of Link, Vyse, and Sonic the Hedgehog. It turns out there is a collision happening among universes, and somehow Joey and Tristan are important pieces of the puzzle.


**Author's note: This was a story I started for shits and giggles years before I made an account on this site, so I never actually had any intention of posting it on here. But after a while I had a change of heart, so I went back and did some serious editing to clean it up a bit. To clarify, this isn't just Super Smash and Yu-Gi-Oh!; you'll encounter characters from various animes and action cartoons... pretty much all my favorite kick-ass characters that you wouldn't find in a Kingdom Hearts game. That was my original concept; make a Kingdom Hearts-esque kind of story without using any characters already in that franchise.**

CHAPTER 1 A SHORTCUT

"Tristan, I told you we should have left earlier."

"Joey, what are you talking about? I had to wake you up, and Yugi's probably left the store by now."

Tristan and Joey bashed through the door to the Game shop. _Thank goodness that was unlocked, _thought Tristan.

"Yugi! Yugi!" shouted Joey a couple of times. "Aw, man, where the hell is he?"

"Well seeing that we're half an hour late," started Tristan. Joey really didn't want to hear it anymore. He knew that he and Tristan were supposed to meet Yugi, Tea, and Bakura at the Game shop at ten o'clock on the dot. However, he didn't make the connection that drinking and playing video games until four in the morning would lead to him sleeping right through his phone alarm. Joey learned his lesson after being woken up at 10:20 by a bucket of ice-cold water provided by Tristan. "They must already be at the park," Tristan finished.

"You think Yugi could persuade them to delay the start of the Duel Monsters tournament?" asked Joey as they sprinted out the door.

"They'll have to listen to him, he's the King of Games," answered Tristan with a positive face.

Joey was getting ready to respond to his friend's optimistic outlook when his cell phone started blaring its familiar, annoying ring tone. "Joey Wheeler, talk to me," he answered coolly.

"Joey, this is Yugi. Where are you two? The tournament was supposed to start at 10:30; you're lucky Kaiba gave you guys five minutes. When that's up, I'm not even gonna try to ask him for more time, so you better get down here fast." Before Joey could express his rage at the feeble amount of extra time being given, he heard the click signifying that Yugi had hung up.

"Tristan, what time is it?" asked Joey, who didn't wear a watch and was too lazy to check the phone he had just put away.

"Half past ten, why?"

"We've got until 10:35, or they're starting without us."

"A measly five minutes, you've got to be kidding me."

"This is Kaiba we're talking about, Tristan; I'm surprised he gave us any time at all." Joey kept running while he thought about the layout of the city; they'd never get there in time without taking a shortcut. "Quick, Tristan, take a right." Tristan, who was in front of Joey, turned so abruptly that he almost slammed into the wall of the alley Joey had told him to go into.

"Joey, this isn't the right way," Tristan argued.

"Tristan, if we go the 'right' way, we'll be at least two minutes late."

"What are you talking about? We're already late."

"I mean two minutes late for being five minutes late."

"Oh, I get it," said Tristan, even though he didn't. "Man, I don't even think I've been down this alley before." Tristan looked around at the dark and musty alley, the walls so old, dirty, and cracked, it was impossible to judge what their original color might have been. Not even the brightest of mornings helped brighten the mood of the desolate pathway. "Joey, are you sure about this?" asked Tristan as the two kept running at full speed. Tristan looked down at his watch to find that they only had two minutes left.

"Positive, my old gang went down this alley all the time," answered Joey, now thinking about his gang. It would definitely be a strange and probably unpleasant experience to run into them. In their eyes, they would have said that he had changed for the worse. They would have been expecting the tough, gritty jerk that skipped school just as often as he went, beat up kids for their lunch money when he had forgotten to bring some (or just for no reason), and dragged kids into the alley to rob them of all their valuables (or pick it from them if there were too many people around). But he knew that things were much better for him now than they could have ever been with the gang.

"Joey, look, it's the park; you were right," Tristan pointed out, waking Joey from his memories. Tristan looked at his watch again; one minute to spare. "We're gonna make it!"

Joey wasn't paying attention because he was thinking hard now. He knew there was something important to remember about exiting the alley from this side. He remembered that he had made a big mistake chasing someone through it for the first time. _Come on, think! _he shouted to himself.

**. . . . .**

_The little kid ran as fast as his short legs would carry him through the dark alley. Joey knew that the rest of the gang was waiting to jump the kid at the exit, but he was intent on getting the kid himself. "Give me your money, you little punk!" shouted Joey, closing in on the kid with his long legs. The main reason he was so concerned of catching the kid on his own was because of how the gang divided the loot. The person mainly responsible for the capture got the most. The kid almost tripped on the way down a staircase that seemed to pop out of nowhere. Luckily, his legs were just short enough to run down the narrow staircase. Joey noticed this, but too late. His right foot landed unevenly on two steps and he twisted around, so that his back was facing the bottom of the staircase. He lost his balance and fell, and was shocked to see his feet getting higher and higher; that could only mean one thing. He made a strange snarling noise as his head crunched against the stairs; he could already feel the wetness on the back of his head._

**. . . . .**

"That's it!" shouted Joey in alarm as he came back from his flashback. "Tristan, slow down, there are stairs."

Tristan's eyes went wide as he heard Joey shout this, and he felt his foot suddenly sink lower than the regular ground level. He did a front flip before landing hard on his back, and then rolling onto his face at the bottom of the stairs. "Tristan!" shouted a panicked Joey, slowing down and carefully descending the stairs.

"Look, Joey," said Tristan faintly as Joey reached him. "We're practically there." Tristan pointed with a weak hand toward a large gathering of teenagers all holding decks of brown cards.

"Screw the tournament, Tristan, I've gotta get you to a hospital," said Joey, alarmed at the puddle of blood under his friend. Just then, Joey heard a _crash_ that sounded from the end of the alley they came from. "What the hell was that?" he said to himself, standing up in alarm. With a powerful blast, the wall to his left broke away as he was hurtled into the air, landing near close to the body of his bloodied friend. A dark purple-black haze filled the air around where the blast had come from. Joey looked on in horror as a tall man stepped through the haze. He wore black armor that tailed down to the back of his knees. He donned a red cape that was bare except for gold markings at the bottom. Joey tried hard not to look at the face, for it was a frightening image. He had dark reddish hair and sideburns that went down and collided with his beard. From chest to legs and all around, he was very muscularly built, and to make it more frightening, he constantly wore a malicious grin. Staring down at Joey and Tristan, he raised the big sword he wielded in his right hand, adding his left hand for power. He was already on his down-swing when he suddenly lurched forward a little. He turned around to reveal an arrow protruding from his back.

"Why are you here?" the large man snarled in a most unpleasant voice. "These two are of no interest to you."

"But they're of interest to you," came a low, strong voice from behind the smoke. "And anything of interest to you is usually worth keeping away from you." The walls then collapsed as a bomb exploded between the two mysterious figures.

_Why hasn't anyone alerted anybody about this?_

"Funny you should ask," came a bright voice from Joey's left side.

"I didn't say anything," said Joey, looking at a most peculiar stranger. He appeared to be some sort of soldier, dressed in a blue coat adorned with red ribbons at the ends of the sleeve, along with a red scarf at the neck. His most notable feature though was a clear lens he wore over his right eye in the form of an eye patch.

"You thought it though," answered the stranger, as if reading minds was a normal occurrence. "Not me though," he continued, not letting Joey speak his question. "This," he said, holding up a small purple glowing jewel. "We've put down a barrier to keep any innocent from getting hurt. And now, we should probably get going." After this last statement, he held the crystal high above his head. "Hold on to your friend," he warned.

"Wait," said Joey, remembering the stranger who had saved them from their gruesome death. "What about that other guy back there, with the bombs."

"Oh right, almost forgot," said the stranger, as if it was no big deal. Joey found this man's constant upbeat attitude a bit unnerving. "Sonic, you should probably go fetch him."

"All right," said a blue hedgehog that Joey just noticed for the first time. "But if he goes on with all that crap about interrupting his battles, you're taking the heat."

"Very well."

Joey saw the hedgehog turn his attention towards him as he uttered the words, "Don't blink." It didn't take him long to realize what the blue creature meant by that. In a flash of blue the hedgehog was there, not there, and then back again with a stranger clad in green. Joey assumed this was the mysterious man who had saved them just moments ago.

"What the hell-" the newcomer started to say, but was cut off.

"Yes, Link, we know, interrupting your battles," answered the stranger with the crystal. Before the one called Link could say anything, the purple jewel started to spin, forming an orb of the same color around them. Joey could see the big guy charging at them with his sword. "Oh my, it better hurry up, or we might not make it," remarked the stranger still holding the jewel, not a hint of fear evident in his voice. Joey gripped Tristan tighter by his jacket as they started to spin. He saw the man take one final lunge toward them as he cringed and looked away. The last thing he remembered was a large hand just brushing the corner of his green jacket before being surrounded by an array of flashing lights, and then fading into darkness.

**. . . . .**

Ganondorf stood there brooding at the space that had just contained four men and a hedgehog, but now lay bare. "Aaahhh!" shouted the large man as he punched the wall, watching as it crumbled instantly. Not only had his target been taken from him, but it was at the hands of his archenemy.

"Settle down, Ganondorf, there's no need for that," came a voice from the clip on his ear. "There will be plenty of other chances to capture young Joey and Tristan. What's important is that you accomplished the main objective." There was a long pause as Ganondorf stood still, breathing deeply after venting his frustrations on the landscape. "You did accomplish the main objective, didn't you?"

"Yes, master," he growled in his low, grotesque voice.

"You see? Nothing to worry about."

**To be continued...**

**So there you have it, the first chapter of my character mash-up epic. I had already written the first few chapters years ago, so after going through those and doing some serious editing (gosh my writing style has changed over the years), I should have those up. But after that, it's back to the usual battle for free time, and the fight with writer's block, and the blah blah blah (I wish I could churn out chapters like I used to before I had an account on here). Anyway, please read and respond, and let me know what you honestly think (please be constructive, though). Please let me know if you have any ideas or characters you would like to see appear in this story. I'm making this one up as I go, so my mind is wide open to suggestions.**


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